Explanation
by Serene Ice Dragon
Summary: Before Tenma leaves for Saint training, Alone tries to convince Tenma that he's actually Hades. Tenma just thinks he's crazy.


_Author's Note: This is the result of cosplaying as Tenma while my friend, Naotoki Yamanouchi, cosplayed Alone. It was a day's worth of insanity. This was inspired by one of our many crazy conversations that day. If, by some chance you've seen something like this before on Youtube, no, I am not stealing. That is ours as well, among the other crazy videos we made that day. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

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Being an orphan, Tenma had seen quite a few crazy things in his life. He'd seen bullies beating up people smaller than them just for fun (which he had solved by punching said bullies in the faces), more bullies throwing rocks at a dog, then at Alone who protected the dog (which had been solved by some punches and a couple kicks), even a flood that threatened their home because nobody else cared enough to try to protect the orphanage (which had also been solved by some punches, though it had made Tenma lose consciousness briefly after breaking his fists against the boulders). This was nothing, however, compared to what Alone was currently trying to tell him.

The two friends were sitting outside under the tree where Sasha had made their bracelets before she left the orphanage. It had gotten cloudy, but it wasn't raining. Tenma was sitting back, watching Alone paint the scenery.

Alone dipped his paintbrush in some gray paint, then asked suddenly, "Hey, Tenma, did you know that, when you become evil, your hair turns black?"

"Huh?"

"Your hair color changes when you become evil." Alone repeated, continuing to paint the clouds in the sky.

Tenma raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh... And you would know this how?"

"A dream. My hair went from blond to black. See, sometime in the near future, I'm actually going to be Hades."

For a moment, all that could be heard was the chirping of a bird from a tree branch somewhere above them. That silence was soon broken by Tenma's laughter.

"_You_ become Hades? Oh, man, Alone, that's the funniest thing you've ever said!"

Alone put his paintbrush down and turned to look at Tenma, no hint of a smile on his face.

"I'm not trying to be funny, Tenma. I'm going to be Hades."

Tenma wiped the tears from his eyes on his arm. "Right, right. You, Alone, who gets hit by rocks while defending a puppy and doesn't do anything about it, will become the God of the Underworld."

"Why don't you believe me?"

At Alone's serious face, Tenma's smile slowly began to fade. "Why _would_ I believe you? You are the most harmless person I've ever met and probably ever will meet. You yell at me every time I punch somebody. You just had some crazy dream."

"But it wasn't just a dream, somebody told me too."

"Somebody told you that you'd become Hades..."

"Yes."

"And who told you that?"

Alone turned back to his picture and resumed painting the clouds. "This lady I met in the forest the other day."

"You mean when I found you unconscious?"

"Yes. She came up to me and told me that, when all the colors mix, all you get is darkness. She's right, you know. Anyway, that's how Kora died, she killed him when he growled at her. That's also where the cut on my lip came from."

"...She cut your lip?"

"Bit it, to be more exact."

Tenma stared. "You let her bite your lip...?"

"Well, I didn't really let her, she just kind of did it. Then she gave me this necklace."

"The one you wouldn't let me touch?"

Alone nodded and clasped his necklace in his hand. "I can't let anyone else touch it."

"Because the crazy lady gave it to you?"

"No, because it proves that I'm Hades."

"Uh-huh...Why were you in that forest again?"

"To paint. The priest told me to go there to find the purest red." At this, Alone looked Tenma in the eyes. "A red I could use to paint your eyes, Tenma."

There was a slightly creepy edge to Alone's voice, but Tenma didn't seem to take any notice. He was too preoccupied with the fact that Alone apparently had no problem following weird strangers wherever they told him to. "What priest?"

"The priest from the forest cathedral. I've never met him before, but he had come just to see my paintings. He told me about how all the colors of the paints aren't true colors, just reflections, and that I could find the purest red on the mountain."

Normally, Tenma would have congratulated Alone, seeing as he was an amazing painter and deserved such attention, but these weren't exactly normal circumstances. "So you went to this mountain alone, with nobody to protect you?"

Alone shrugged. "I didn't need any protection."

"Apparently you did, because then a creepy lady assaulted you."

"She didn't assault me, she simply guided me to the truth. After that happened, I saw her again, and she took me to the forest cathedral."

Tenma stared, wondering just how far his friend would go when he was clearly in danger. "You mean you followed the crazy lady after all that?"

Alone nodded like it was a common thing to do. "She was going to show me what I've always wanted to see. Then, after I got there, there was another priest waiting. He showed me the painting that could reduce even the most hardened criminals to tears. It was actually a picture of me, Tenma. Me bringing everyone salvation by ending their lives, ending their suffering. That's when I realized I was Hades."

"So, let me get this straight. A crazy priest told you to go to the mountain to find a shade of red, where the crazy lady came up to you, bit your lip and killed your dog, then she showed up again and you _went with her_ to the forest cathedral where another crazy priest showed you a crazy painting that has in turn made _you_ crazy."

"Without the word crazy...yes. Oh, I also have a castle in the sky."

"..."

Tenma was beginning to think that there was something in the flowers on the mountainside that Alone went to see and he was just dreaming this all up. It sounded utterly ridiculous, and couldn't possibly be true. Alone was the last person on earth that could ever be the God of the Underworld. "I think you've been sniffing the wrong flowers, Alone."

"I haven't been sniffing flowers."

"Well there must have been something in those flowers, because that is the craziest story I've ever heard."

Alone sighed. "You like the word crazy, don't you?"

"There's no other word that can be used to describe what you have just told me. Other than maybe Insane. Ridiculous. Untrue."

"It _is _true! Why do you still not believe me?"

"You're too nice to be Hades, Alone. And castles don't float in the sky. And I don't think anybody drew a picture of you killing people. If they did, it's some really sick, twisted joke. Actually, that crazy priest probably painted it."

"Which crazy priest?"

"The first one, since he apparently knows something about art. He probably painted it to get you to believe all of this. But what I really want to know is why you actually went along with all of this in the first place. Even if you didn't escape the crazy lady the first time, why did you go with her the second time and then believe the crazy priest she took you to?"

"They seemed nice enough."

Tenma shook his head and let out a sigh. As much as he hated to hit his best friend, he felt there was no other option. He had to knock some sense into him before his aspiring artist of a friend decided to tell Tenma that his father was actually alive and working in Alone's magical flying castle and everything that had happened to Tenma up until now was all just part of the plan.

"Alone, I hate to do this to you but..." Tenma put his left hand on Alone's shoulder and clenched his other hand into a fist. "I've got to knock some sense into you."

"Wha-Tenma, wait! What are you doing? I'm not crazy! I swear! Please don't hit me! You'll regret this when I gain my powers as Hades!"

"Sorry, Alone. You'll thank me when you wake up."

"No! Tenma! Your punches hurt! Wait! Aaaaah!"


End file.
